01/09/2017 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Typical storm Harvey takes its toll on the oil industry. The lip pump up

gas prices here in Asia? And on South Korean electronics giant that

the green light to test drive -- automatic cars. It's a Friday

everyone! Good morning, Asia, hello, world, thank you for joining us for

Asia Business Report, I'm Rico Hizon. Starting with hurricane

Harvey and it may have weakened but flooding continues to wreak havoc on

parts of the south-east portion of the United States, some projections

show it may be the costliest national disaster in US history. The

Houston area is home to America's oil and gas industry, the country 's

largest refinery will be shut down for at least two weeks and other

refineries along the Gulf coast are off-line as well. Let's take a look

at the updated numbers for the oil markets in Asian trade. It rose

overnight in New York trading but in the early Asian trading it is

slightly down. I spoke earlier with energy analyst Suzanne Minter about

the impact on Asia. The US imports on average 3.7 million, net, 3.7

million barrels a day of crude into the Gulf Coast which currently is

having to find markets elsewhere. But when we look at Asia and I look

at China in particular, let's say, for example, China was one of the

largest Asian offtake is of US crude in May and June but the year-to-date

China has only been averaging 200,000 barrels a day of US import

and utterly represents less than 1.5% to Chinese refining capacity.

However as I said everyone is focused on oil but we look at the

petrochemical sector, the US's exports 1.2 million barrels a day of

propane and butane. Half of which has been moving to Asia. Energy

analyst Suzanne Minter in Denver, Colorado. India's economy is showing

signs of slowing, its GDP growing by just about 6% in the quarter ending

in June. It is a big drop from the previous quarter and slower than the

7% expansion in the same quarter of last year. So why did it hit a

three-year low? The latest economic growth figure clearly suggest that

the economy is still to recover from the cash ban decision that was

introduced last year. The government banned 90 cent of the cash in

circulation, practically overnight. Since then, expansion plans have

been affected with small and medium-sized businesses struggling.

The economic figure doesn't take into account the performance of

small businesses and the unorganised sector which constitutes more than

50% of the total economic output in India. These segments were the worst

hit after the cash ban. It means the slowdown may be even more severe

than the latest figures suggest. On Wednesday India's central bank said

99% of the banknotes which were banned have already returned to the

system. Analyst for it makes the cash ban a failure. The exercise was

aimed at weeding out unaccounted wealth or so-called black money. The

worst the economy may still not be over with the introduction of the

GST which came into effect in July. This reform is expected to overhaul

the way businesses pay tax in India. Small businesses are finding it

difficult to adapt and this will delay expansion plans. The IMF and

World Bank had estimated India's economy would grow by more than 7%

in 2017 out with these latest figures coming in, the target looks

difficult. To achieve. Chinese President Xi Jinping will be meeting

with resilient president later today ahead of the ninth annual summit of

nations known as BRICS. China is now the South American country's largest

trading partner. Brazil recently came out of its worst recession in

history written by agricultural growth. As a South American

correspondent reports, a good harvest may not be enough to save

the economy in the long run. Work never stops in these fields in

Brazil. Today they are covered in white as farmers harvesting cotton.

Just a few weeks from now, the land will be cleared to make way for soya

bean plantations. This farmer knows how important his farm is to Brazil.

Ablation macro we saved the country 's economy busier, it is impossible

to imagine what Brazil will look like without its farmers today. From

the small ones to the big plantations, we are helping the

country get through the hard times. Agriculture accounts for more than

one fifth of Brazil's economic output. This year's bumper harvest

means the sector will grow by more than 10%. If Brazil's agriculture

sector was a single country, it would be growing faster than any

other nation on the planet. This man isn't only a farmer, revenues from

agriculture have transformed this city, each breast of the best funded

schools in Brazil or even after the town's population tripled in size

over the last decade. But despite positive stories, in the town,

infrastructure outside could stall the engine of growth. The long road

for Brazilian exports to markets like China, Europe and the US starts

here that this is one of the worst roads in Brazil. You can see there

is no movement at all. It will take days for these trucks to reach the

coast and that makes resilient products about 10% more expensive.

Our transportation isn't adequate for the country. We need more

railroads. If we change our matrix, we would save around 100 billion, a

year, that means 30 billion dollars a year. But building better roads

and railways is expensive and Brazil's government is

cash-strapped. Posterity is still confined to the country's highly

productive fields. A bumper harvest may help end of recession but it

will not fix Brazil's more serious problems. Samsung has been granted

permission to test the self driving cars in California. The approval

comes several months after the South Korean technology giant rocked US

supplier Harman International for $8 billion. It will now go head-to-head

with other silicon valley rivals who are also developing and testing

autonomous vehicles. We are now joined by a leash. This is a new

initiative for Samsung. It fits with that other businesses. They make

smartphones, is, memory chips, LCD, these all require advanced

technology that they are looking to channel into autonomous cars. The

permit they have in California is one of 39, others include a pool,

Google's alphabets, Huber, Tesla, some really big names. Samsung says

they are not planning on making any cars, the commission they have will

see them used three vehicles to test out software and sensors, survey

plan to use a tour to previous as well is to different Audi cars. It

is interesting because some companies are building the entire

thing, Tesla for example, and Google had this division called Wayne more

and they try to build their own car but have scrapped the Saint indeed

using a Chrysler model. So it is a convergence of Samsung ' knowledge

is. But it is being tested in silicon valley, will be tested in

South Korea? Samsung actually got permission from the South Korean

government earlier this year to put the driving cars on the road. They

want to be a leader in the space. They are already quite advanced

among Asian economies. They have five G and four G when it comes to

mobile network. So when it comes to other parts of the world, Singapore

for example, we have other companies testing self driving cars and in

China as well, plans to put cars on the road by 2020, and Toyota, the

biggest carmaker in Japan, are planning to put $1 billion into

research and development in the areas of Asia is definitely going to

be a leader in the space as well. We are moving forward but my question

is would you write an autonomous car? A self driving car? Some of

these don't have pedals or steering wheels and I don't think I would get

into them because it was like being stuck in a cable car. I'm scared!

Especially during the testing period! Think you for joining us.

All right, before we go, let's have a look now at the markets. Positive

US economic data at easing tensions in North Korea currently having a

positive reaction on the Asian markets. Japan is up by 71 points.

You have the all ordinaries index gaining 52 points. The numbers right

now from the Hong Kong Hang Seng, but not for the market will open in

50 minutes. Wall Street is positive. Boosting expectations. It will hold

off on increasing interest rates. Thank you very much for your time.

Rico Hizon. Sport Today is next. You will have to wait a little

longer for the sport.